John was preceded in death by his parents, C.A. Willenbrock, Sr. and Carrie Elmyra Willenbrock and two brothers, Charles Willenbrock and Mike Willenbrock.
John is survived by his loving wife of 68 years, Edie Willenbrock; two sons, Jack Willenbrock and his wife Cheryl, and Scott Willenbrock and his wife Vickie; four daughters, Linda Jones and her husband David, Margie Lewis and her husband Richard, Jo Ann Cary and her husband Gregg, and Cindy Parker and her husband Ken; three sisters, Kathryn Roberts, Meta Hinze, and Myra Tesbir and her husband Bill; thirteen grandchildren; eighteen great grandchildren; many other family members and a host of friends.
Celebration of life services will be held at Ridout’s Gardendale Chapel on Wednesday, February 13, 2019 with a time of visitation to begin at 2:00pm followed by a memorial service at 4:30pm.
The family request in lieu of flowers donations be made to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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John Willenbrock was born in 1928,
Life was hard, but Edie made it great.
1950 was the year they started together,
All John’s farming depended on the weather.
Soon along three children came-
Linda, Margie, and Jack were their names.
In Connecticut, he started with plows,
He got the fields ready and then milked the cows.
Farming in the snow was terribly cold,
It wasn’t long until it got very old.
They loaded up the cows; and children too,
Moved them all to Virginia, oh what a zoo!
Holstein cows were what John would choose,
All black and white, he loved the moos.
The three years they were there went by fast,
But still, Jo Ann came along to add to the cast.
In 1958, on to Mississippi they decided to go,
A 456 acre farm, where cows and kids could grow.
Here they continued to add to the crew,
With Cindy and Scott, the family grew.
Farming and milking cows were hard on the knees,
So they moved to Alabama and traded it all for an 18-wheeler’s keys.
John still loved the farming; he couldn’t get it out of his blood,
He continued to drive the tractor and plow in the mud!
He planted tomatoes, red on the vine,
Just so Edie could pick all the time!
91 years of a long wonderful life,
68 of those spent with his wife.
John and Edie is what most know them by
But if you called them Ma and Pa they would always answer Hi
David, Richard, Gregg, and Ken all became a part
As well as Cheryl and Vickie all filled up their heart
13 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren- John loved them all,
Together, the family always had a ball.
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